


I'll Be Here When You Wake

by MishaAnya



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-09
Updated: 2015-08-09
Packaged: 2018-04-13 17:59:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4531623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MishaAnya/pseuds/MishaAnya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Liv gets hurt during a trial when someone targets Barba.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll Be Here When You Wake

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first SVU fic. I recently binge watched three seasons and I love the chemistry between Barba and Benson and I'm becoming mildly obsessed over Barba. So sue me. Anyways, constructive criticism always welcome. Please keep in mind, I have not seen every episode ever made so if this or something similar has happened in earlier seasons that I missed, let me know and I will delete this. Enjoy!

“Sergeant Benson, how long have you been in SVU?”

“15 years.”

This part was routine. Liv and Barba never had to rehearse this bit. It was the same nearly every trial. Show her expertise, don’t play down her experience. It was a performance they enjoyed when done well. Liv answered her questions, making eye contact with Barba and members of the jury as she laid out the facts of the current case. Occasionally, she glanced into the audience, where Nick Amaro nodded with her statements.

“What happened after Ms. Brown came to you?”

“I escorted her to the hospital to do a rape kit and members of my team went to the parking garage to gather security footage.”

The door to the courtroom opened, but Barba’s attention was entirely on Liv. “Was there any security footage?”

“Yes.” The person entering the courtroom was trying to slip in unnoticed but he was right in Liv’s eye line. “The footage showed…” Liv’s voice trailed as she watched the new comer reach into his coat and Barba looked at her questioningly. Dark metal flashed from his hand and Liv stood up as he took aim at the man in front of her. “GUN!”

Everyone ducked. Her gun was in her hand and in mere seconds, the room exploded with two shots and screaming. People were huddling under benches and running out of the room. Barba stood up, looking for the culprit that had started the chaos. He could see the back of Nick Amaro restraining a young man with the help of security guards. The shooter had a leg wound, and Barba was happy to see it bleeding profusely. Liv hadn’t missed. Barba’s head turned to the witness stand to find the detective, only to see an empty seat. Barba looked around frantically, expecting Liv to be beside him, but when she didn’t show, he rushed to the witness stand.

Liv lay crumpled on the floor. Her eyes were shut and blood was seeping through her shirt. Barba’s chest seized. “LIV!”

He kneeled next to her, tearing his suit jacket off and pressing it frantically against Liv’s side. He could hear shouting behind him and soon Nick was at his side checking Liv’s pulse. “I’ve got an ambulance on the way. Liv, Liv, can you hear me?” Nick prompted. “Barba, put pressure here.”

Barba had the sensation of someone squeezing his heart so hard he thought it would burst. Liv was unresponsive, as if all the life was pouring out of her onto the cloth in his hands. “Rafael! Escuchame,” Amaro barked. “Here. She has a pulse and she’s breathing. The medics are on their way.”

Barba pushed where Nick instructed, watching Liv’s blood seep into his jacket. The courtroom was emptying, clearing the way for the stretcher and paramedics. Nick grabbed Barba by the shoulder and pulled him away, letting the medics tend to Liv. In seconds, they had her on a stretcher and began wheeling her out.

Amaro and Barba followed close behind. The shooter was in the hallway, flanked by cops, with a medic looking at his leg wound. “Barba,” Amaro warned.

The attorney was deaf to his warning. He could see nothing but red, his heart pounded in his ears as he approached the bleeding man. “What the hell was that?”

The man in custody just smiled. “I was aiming for you, pendejo pero su novia will be good enough, I think.”

Barba charged, only Nick’s arm holding him back, and grabbed the man by his shirt. “Si ella muere, you will spend the rest of your life rotting in a cell. Entiendes?” he whispered, then he pushed Liv’s shooter back down.

He shrugged Nick’s arm off roughly, “Dejame!” and walked out of the court house.

 

He watched her chest rise and fall with the rhythm of the machine. It was therapeutic, the only way he good get to sleep since he’d been here. Watch the breaths. Remember she’s a live. He was lying on a couch he’d dragged from the waiting area after the kinks in his neck from sleeping sitting up became too unbearable. The nurses pursed their lips each time they saw it, but no one said anything yet. Special accommodations, courtesy of NYPD.

His eyes only left her chest to glance at the machine measuring her heart rate. The doctors told him that her heart stopped on the table. They were more than pleasantly surprised when they revived her and she pulled through the rest of the surgery. It hurt his very being to imagine the line on the monitor going flat. He was grateful that they hadn’t told him until they’d shocked her back to life. He didn’t think he’d have handled it well otherwise.

Three days. It had been three days. Eight hours of touch and go. Four hours of complications. Two hours of “no visitors yet.” Fourteen hours before visual confirmation of Liv being alive. And then two and a half days of waiting. Waiting for the “if” the doctors kept talking about. “If she wakes up, she’ll make a full recovery.” Or “If she wakes up, there’ll be no lasting damage.” Barba was a lawyer skilled in the arts of words. He noticed they hadn’t said “when.”

Barba’s eyes narrowed. Her heart rate was speeding up according to the monitor. He shifted into an upright position and held his breath as he watched Liv’s face for any sign of life. Then, finally, her eyes flickered open.

“Dios mio,” he breathed out. His chest felt lighter than it had in days. She turned towards him, she’d heard his whisper.

He moved the couch closer to the bed and his hand touched her arm and squeezed it when she leaned into him. “Shh, Liv. Don’t try to speak or fight the respirator. The doctors say it will make it worse. We’ve got pen and paper right here. Noah is with Nick and his sister. The shooter is in custody, and no one else was hurt.”

Her hand formed a fist and she looked like she was trying to keep calm, but the monitor betrayed her. “Do you need more morphine? Does it hurt?” Worry creased every line in his face. He looked as tired as she felt. He handed her the pen and pad.

“You look like hell,” she wrote.

He snorted. “You’re not exactly looking your best either, Sergeant. But the doctors are convinced you’re gonna pull through.”

She couldn’t chuckle, but she wrote, “Ha.”

“Tell me if it hurts. The doctors lowered the dosage to help you wake up. They can up it again.”

She shook her head. “Liv, this is no time to be tough. The bullet ripped through your lung and ricocheted off a rib out your back. There’s nothing to gain to by playing the tough guy..or girl.”

He slipped the morphine button into her hand and she grabbed his hand. “Liv?”

She picked up the pen and wrote one word. “Stay?”

“Of course,” he breathed. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Her eyes met his and he nodded his reassurance. She clicked the morphine button. Almost immediately, she felt the weight of her eye lids increase. Her hand searched for his and squeezed with whatever energy she had left. Rafael stood up and pressed his lips against her for head. “I’ll be here when you wake,” he whispered.


End file.
